Meagan Hollman
Did you gain your Freshman 15 last year? This year, set a goal to burn it off. Sure, exercise can be a daunting task—especially for a stressed out Utah college student suffocating under mounds of homework—but it doesn’t have to be. “I’m too tired” and “I haven’t been on Facebook since this morning” are two typical demotivating excuses for not exercising. Try some of these motivators to get the heart pumping and the sweat pouring.
Tie your favorite donut on a string just out of reach. Start doing crunches.
Tape a picture of your dream body to the floor. Start doing pushups.
Pretend a bomb has been wired to your treadmill and if your heart rate gets below 170 bpm you will explode.
Try to outrun the sun. Start your morning run 10 to 15 minutes before sunrise and try to reach a destination before the sun fully rises. If you live close to your Utah college, make campus your destination.
Make a playlist with pumped-up songs like the Rocky Theme and “Eye of the Tiger.”
Pretend you’re James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt, chasing down or running from the bad guy.
Park your treadmill in front of the TV. You don’t have to give up TV in order to be healthy. Just multi-task. Watching a TV drama or an action movie can help take your mind off the burning pain and help keep your heart rate elevated.
Make it a competition. Try to burn more calories in a single workout than your Utah college roommate, friend or that stranger next to you on the treadmill.
The zombie apocalypse just broke out. Start running or get your brains eaten.
Buy a gym pass. Not wanting to waste money is pretty good motivation for a poor Utah college student.
Did you watch Usain Bolt's historic Olympic race? I was looking forward to his performance - in all possible ways! - and he delivered, again. He didn't just deliver, he outperformed everyone else by a big margin in what was the greatest line-up for a 100m finale.
